Two weeks of groceries on food stamps

a reply to: Xeven

That's a good idea; is it legal?

Thanks

I would love to get tips from anyone here on how to feed a family of 5 for much less than what we spend. No sarcasm intended...we recently took a debt counseling class where the instructor told us that we should be spending no more than 10% of our income on food,which for us would mean we pretty much starve,and my husband has a very decent paying job. We have 3 children,and we live in a very small town surrounded by other small towns. Even though it is strangely difficult to find a farmers market when we live right in so much farmland,we have found one that we regularly go to,but she only has certain items at certain times. We use a meat market for all of our meat buying,then shop around at the few other stores in this area for the best deals on other groceries. I pack lunches for all 3 children for school,and that has become more expensive than just buying their school lunches,but we feel better about what they have if they they pack. I do some coupon-ing,but mostly the online stuff with shopper cards,and we love to shop at Costco. Also,we try to plan out meals that will last more than one day,and make a grocery list by that,but still there is absolutely no way we can see of spending only 10%. Any help?

Why not buy a large bag of rice 10 - 20 lbs. and dry beans are around $1.75 for a 1 lb bag and they give you a lot more food than buying a can of beans.

Why buy frozen processed meat instead of just buying a chicken?

You can get a 10 lb bag of rice & 10 lbs of beans for like $25-$30 and it's a crap load of food when cooked. Add a couple of chickens to that and some raw veggies and a few pound boxes of pasta (cheap).

You can make a 4 gallon pot of chicken with rice soup (or noodles) for about $10 and it will feed someone for a week. Freeze it in gallon zip lock bags and reheat when you want it.

originally posted by: nightmares75
I would love to get tips from anyone here on how to feed a family of 5 for much less than what we spend. No sarcasm intended...we recently took a debt counseling class where the instructor told us that we should be spending no more than 10% of our income on food,which for us would mean we pretty much starve,and my husband has a very decent paying job. We have 3 children,and we live in a very small town surrounded by other small towns. Even though it is strangely difficult to find a farmers market when we live right in so much farmland,we have found one that we regularly go to,but she only has certain items at certain times. We use a meat market for all of our meat buying,then shop around at the few other stores in this area for the best deals on other groceries. I pack lunches for all 3 children for school,and that has become more expensive than just buying their school lunches,but we feel better about what they have if they they pack. I do some coupon-ing,but mostly the online stuff with shopper cards,and we love to shop at Costco. Also,we try to plan out meals that will last more than one day,and make a grocery list by that,but still there is absolutely no way we can see of spending only 10%. Any help?

10% for a family of 5 can be enough if your income is in the higher side, if you're poor it's way too low and your family will starve. Whatever your income is, for a family that size $300-400 a month on food isn't unreasonable

almost for got the tip. Don't buy the name brand stuff, most times the off brand cheap stuff is the exact same thing with a different label. Don't pay extra for labels

originally posted by: Snarl
a reply to: tompumped

For a while i've wanted to say i took me a minute to relaize what your avatar was.

I get all sorts of remarks about it. I should've probably picked something different, but it's who I am on the site now. -shrug-

Somehow I didn't quote your post.

I do mostly remember people by their avatars so it's nice to see people keeping them.

Thanks op for posting this thread. I started cooking more than ever and i'm a cheap person, but I have a high metabolism.

a reply to: Aazadan
I completely understand. I don't actually like lettuce. A salad for me is avacado and tomato, kumato if its on sale.

Needless to say we've just been eating oranges after meals because I'm not paying more than a dollar for avacado. I should get an avacado tree.

originally posted by: glend
a reply to: Aazadan

Aquaponics doesn't require a lot of maintenance. No weeding, auto watering, auto fish feeders etc make it practically easier than travelling to the supermarket for supplies. Wooden tables can be covered with screwed down poolycarbonate panels to cover the plants (also green house for winter) with side padlocked panels for access. You could even make an aquaponics system with a couple heavy bathtubs if you wanted . If you surround the entire system with barbed wire and protect with a $10-20 motion sensor alarm it should repel the majority of thieves.

You don't mention what type of disability you have but is a car a real necessity for you. People have sold their cars and used bicycles for everyday living and saved heaps in the process. A LWB recumbent or lightfoot trike fitted with a hub motor and lithium batteries can travel 100 miles for less than 50 cents in electricity. Its not as comfortable as a car but anything that stands in the way of our survival needs to be considered a liability.

Things are only going to get worse from increasing inflation so rather than procrastinate over the negatives we need take ownership of our survival.

I just wanted to say that's an awesome idea I never saw an aquaponics system made out of a bathtub. One thing my friend brought up when talking about our plans for aquaponics, was the fact that most of the prefab systems use pvc pipe or something that might leech into the system. I'm not sure if my first system will be made with leech free piping, but when I have more money I will do it the right way. If i'm going to eat healthy and raise my own fish I want to do it a hundred percent.

When i'm fixing cars I don't rig anything, never have, never will so i'm going to learn how to do aquaponics right.

The first video I saw years ago was a black man showing what you can produce on a small parcel of property and I said that has to be the way to go. I'm happy to say one day I will raise my own organic vegetables and fish. Those of us that have the space and means should all start breaking away. I don't trust a USDA organic label and I don't want to pay the prices. I don't care if I have to work twelve hour days then tend to that. It will be done.

a reply to: EyesOpenMouthShut

My friends and I just had the name brand discussion! We were comparing which items can be bought name brand. Don't forget, you're not saving any money if it tastes so bad no one will eat it. Some off brand actually have the ingredients I prefer. Less additives seem to be cheaper.

originally posted by: BaconNeggs2
a reply to: Aazadan

Wow look at all that food

YOU ARE A RICH MAN

kidding, I am just glad I don't see bottles and bottles of COKE, SODA, Sugary BS, beer etc

Uh, not that you would judge anybody, or try to control what someone eats. OH WAIT! It's your business because you pay taxes. Right. : @@ :

a reply to: Lyxdeslic

Just a suggestion regarding the gluten free noodles. Try investing less than $20 bucks in a spiralizer on amazon. Use it to make vegetable "noodles". Much cheaper and healthier. I've made noodles out of zucchini, sweet potatoes, beets, butternut squash - pretty much any vegetable that's big enough and dense enough. I haven't eaten pasta noodles in a long time, and I don't even miss it! I've eaten them in soups, casseroles and stir fries, with tomato sauce, cheese sauce, pesto sauce, peanut sauce, etc.

originally posted by: caterpillage
Yeah, that's why I work 55 hours a week. So I don't have to do that.

I did this same thing when I was in my 20's. I had 2 full time jobs. I would work 16 hour days 6 days a week. On Sunday I worked a 10 hour day. How long can you keep up at that pace? I lasted a year.

I'm 41 now. 40 hours a week is enough. In fact it is too much. My body hurts. I have issues with my back, neck and shoulder. I have some issue with my arm now too and have for the last few months. I need surgery on both feet but cant afford to take a month off of work to get it done.

I guess my whole point is, you shouldn't have to work yourself to death in order to feed yourself.

I remember a time that the guy who worked 55 hours a week, did so to do more than simply eat well. We worked that hard to buy a house, have nice things to put in that house. Maybe set up a College fund for a child. We worked that hard not to buy things we needed because we were vain and felt like we had every right to enjoy the fruits of our labor. It was to enjoy the luxuries.

Oh how far we have fallen. When now we see a person say how they work 55 hours a week........ just to eat.

a reply to: tompumped

I wasn't aware of dangers in pvc so will look stainless steel when I get a chance to build a system for myself so thanks for the tip. There are a crazy amount of videos on aquaponics in youtube so it looks that it has already taken off in a big way. Good luck with yours.

a reply to: Flesh699

I work in the same industry, and I've seen the same thing. But I've also seen people make those EBT cards scream. It can be done, 'cause I've seen it in action.

The one issue I have with the EBT system is the "cash" aspect of it. That was originally intended to help pay bills. Electric, phone, etc... But I see it used so often for cigarettes, beer, and now that grocery stores in Washington state sell hard liquor, that, too.

Fraud is endemic in the system.

Little or no state oversight. Not because they don't care, but because they simply can't. Not enough people, or hours in the day.

The rules need to be tightened up, so that perhaps the fraudulent uses can be stopped, or at least slowed. Perhaps then, more money can be given to each person legitimately in the system, without raising my taxes in the process.

But that's not going to happen until we make it happen.

a reply to: glend

That was the only video I watched and it was a while ago. I guess it could be done with pex and compression fittings? Stainless is really the way to go though it seems. I haven't researched the alternatives yet.

I have used pex to bring water to buildings for the sprinkler systems. If that material doesn't leech it's good stuff. We ran 2" k copper then pex after the shutoff valve iirc.

Thanks and good luck too

originally posted by: Iamthatbish
a reply to: EyesOpenMouthShut

My friends and I just had the name brand discussion! We were comparing which items can be bought name brand. Don't forget, you're not saving any money if it tastes so bad no one will eat it. Some off brand actually have the ingredients I prefer. Less additives seem to be cheaper.

When i said it's the same stuff, a lot of times it comes out of the same machine into different bottles.
But you're right. some of it isn't and tastes bad

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: Flesh699

I work in the same industry, and I've seen the same thing. But I've also seen people make those EBT cards scream. It can be done, 'cause I've seen it in action.

The one issue I have with the EBT system is the "cash" aspect of it. That was originally intended to help pay bills. Electric, phone, etc... But I see it used so often for cigarettes, beer, and now that grocery stores in Washington state sell hard liquor, that, too.

Fraud is endemic in the system.

Little or no state oversight. Not because they don't care, but because they simply can't. Not enough people, or hours in the day.

The rules need to be tightened up, so that perhaps the fraudulent uses can be stopped, or at least slowed. Perhaps then, more money can be given to each person legitimately in the system, without raising my taxes in the process.

But that's not going to happen until we make it happen.

There seems to be a theme: People on food stamps should suffer. They shouldn't be able to make any choices for themselves. Big daddy should decide what they eat and drink. In other words, they should be treated as less than human. I do understand that some people make that which you or I might consider to be bad choices, but they're their choices to make. Let's not move toward a society where the government makes every decision for everyone. Obviously, if the cash portion was intended to pay bills,it would be paid directly to the phone company or wherever.

I've never understood why people get so nasty when they see someone buying pork chops with food stamps yet have no problem with corporate CEOs buying Lear jets with corporate welfare money from the government. What about corporate fraud? That amounts to millions for every cent in food stamps that goes to poor people.

a reply to: EyesOpenMouthShut

We do taste tests in my house. This way they are always willing to try it.

My kids have never let me live down that once the food I bought was so bad i took it from them and threw it out! It was so awful i couldn't eat it, my babies weren't eating it!

originally posted by: nightmares75
I would love to get tips from anyone here on how to feed a family of 5 for much less than what we spend. No sarcasm intended...we recently took a debt counseling class where the instructor told us that we should be spending no more than 10% of our income on food,which for us would mean we pretty much starve,and my husband has a very decent paying job. We have 3 children,and we live in a very small town surrounded by other small towns. Even though it is strangely difficult to find a farmers market when we live right in so much farmland,we have found one that we regularly go to,but she only has certain items at certain times. We use a meat market for all of our meat buying,then shop around at the few other stores in this area for the best deals on other groceries. I pack lunches for all 3 children for school,and that has become more expensive than just buying their school lunches,but we feel better about what they have if they they pack. I do some coupon-ing,but mostly the online stuff with shopper cards,and we love to shop at Costco. Also,we try to plan out meals that will last more than one day,and make a grocery list by that,but still there is absolutely no way we can see of spending only 10%. Any help?

I don't have any better suggestions than you have already come up with. I noticed that many of the otherwise good suggestions from people have involved spending money that food stamp recipients don't have. Many of America's poorest people live in rural areas where cars are essential for transportation. You can't reasonably bicycle 30 miles round-trip to the grocery store or doctor with a child on your back (they can't afford child care) even if you're physically fit. You certainly can't do it in the winter if you live in a cold state. Lack of transportation is a huge problem for these people. People in cities have a different problem: no space to grow food. Many apartment managers would never allow it even if there is space. And let's not forget that growing food requires some up front investment. Perhaps it's not much but these people don't have much. They're usually dead broke long before the end of the month. I've noticed that farmer's markets seem to be more prevalent in affluent areas. I've also read that grocery stores in poor areas have much higher prices (and poorer quality meats, for example) than grocery stores in affluent areas. There are poor areas where grocery stores are few and far between and poor people without transportation end up shopping at high priced convenience stores.

a reply to: Tangerine

I find the corporate welfare just as odious, thank you.

When you are living on someone else's dime, one should have certain rules to abide by, shouldn't they?

I have no issue with EBT users buying pork chops. Or other foods that are, in moderation, good for you. None.

The fraud I was referencing was people who use the "cash" aspect of EBT which is intended for bills, to buy beer or cigs, etc...

If you don't know, EBT comes with two portions. One is food only. Two is "cash", that can be used for anything. It's original intent was to help people pay their bills, but many use it to buy things that the EBT "food" side won't pay for. Many use it to buy more food, in fact, it's probably most of them. But many don't...

There are loopholes in the EBT program that should be closed. If that's Big Brother, so be it.

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: Tangerine

I find the corporate welfare just as odious, thank you.

When you are living on someone else's dime, one should have certain rules to abide by, shouldn't they?

I have no issue with EBT users buying pork chops. Or other foods that are, in moderation, good for you. None.

The fraud I was referencing was people who use the "cash" aspect of EBT which is intended for bills, to buy beer or cigs, etc...

If you don't know, EBT comes with two portions. One is food only. Two is "cash", that can be used for anything. It's original intent was to help people pay their bills, but many use it to buy things that the EBT "food" side won't pay for. Many use it to buy more food, in fact, it's probably most of them. But many don't...

There are loopholes in the EBT program that should be closed. If that's Big Brother, so be it.